 |
|
| Contacts: | |
|
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Communications Office (301) 496-4236; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Margo Warren, (301) 496-5751 |
Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center Communications Office, (301) 496-2563 Suburban Hospital, Ronna Borenstein-Levy, (301) 896-2598. |
(Bethesda, Md., June 15, 1999)--The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD today announced the start of a unique study to evaluate whether advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology will improve the emergency diagnosis of heart attack and stroke, ultimately saving patients' lives.
"This is the first time that an MRI scanner will be used to diagnose heart disease soon after patients are admitted to a hospital emergency room," said Dr. Claude Lenfant, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the lead NIH sponsor of the study. "We hope to learn whether this technology can more quickly and accurately identify heart attacks and strokes so patients can benefit from earlier treatmentsuch as clot-busters," added Dr. Lenfant.
"The benefits to the health of our community will be extraordinary," said Dr. William Minogue, senior vice president for medical affairs at Suburban. "Suburban Hospital will be the only community hospital, and one of a small number of facilities in the world, with this level of imaging technology," he added.
MRI scanners are noninvasive yet they create clear, detailed images of internal organs and structures and can rapidly evaluate blood flow/supply.
Of all the patients coming into a hospital emergency room with chest pain, only about 40 percent can be immediately diagnosed with heart attack using standard testing. The majority of patients must undergo a number of tests or further hospitalization to reach a conclusive diagnosis. MRI may shorten the time needed to accurately evaluate cardiac patients.
The timing of stroke diagnosis is equally critical. "The new MRI technology will allow us to immediately see the stroke as it is occurring in the brain, while the damage is potentially reversible," said Dr. Gerald Fischbach, Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a co-sponsor of the study. "This offers us more hope of intervention and, with better understanding of the causes of stroke, we may ultimately learn ways to prevent stroke."
The 4-year study is a collaborative research program between three NIH components -- NHLBI, NINDS, and the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center (CC) -- and Suburban Hospital. The core tools of the new research program will be two specially-designed MRI scanners, which will be housed in a new imaging facility at Suburban Hospital called the NIH-Suburban MRI Center, a Heart and Stroke Research and Care Program. The study will involve magnetic resonance imaging of approximately 75 percent of the several hundred patients admitted to Suburban's ER with chest pain or symptoms of possible stroke.
(Go here for more)
| Background: Suburban Hospital and the National Institutes of Health | What is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)? | |
| June 15 press conference: speakers | remarks | Symptoms of heart attack | stroke | |
| Contacts: | ||
| NHLBI Communications Office, (301) 496-4236 | Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, Communications, (301) 496-2563 | |
| NINDS, Margo Warren, (301) 496-5751 | Suburban Hospital, Ronna Borenstein-Levy, (301) 896-2598 | |
| CC | NIH |
updated 6/99 |
|